Second "Design Recharge" Interview: April 1, 2015In this second interview with Diane Gibbs at "Design Recharge" we focus on International Fake Journal Month. If you're wondering just what that is, I give a great description of it, and why you might want to participate. Also check out our earlier interview (below on this list) if you want more information about how I approach visual journaling.

First "Design Recharge" Interview: February 12, 2015Diane Gibbs of Design Recharge interviewed me for International Fake Journal Month (2015). We get a little side tracked and talk a lot about sketching, visual journaling, and my creative process. It's a great interview.

Where Is Roz Blogging?

Podcasts with Roz

Danny Gregory and I Discuss Visual JournalingSadly a two part podcast from May 2008 made with Danny Gregory, author of "An Illustrated Life," is not currently available. We talked about journaling, art media, and materials…If this becomes available again in the future I will let you know.

Finding Bits of TimeRicë Freeman-Zachery, author of "Creative Time and Space," talks to me about finding time to be creative. (Taped October 23, 2009.)

February 13, 2017

I Don’t Look at Rodents—Usually

Above: Several quick sketches of Cilla, the Chinchilla, owned by a friend. I was looking at body shape and outlines, and also at the eye. The first quick contour sketch, bottom left, made me think Cilla looked a lot like Master Sifu in "Kung Fu Panda." (Notes on the lefthand page were from a mat-cutting sales demo I attended the night before. I didn't purchase one.) Click on the image to view an enlargement.

I don’t look at rodents—usually.

I know there was the time many winters ago where I walked outside and there was a dead mouse curled in the driveway. I went back inside and got my journal and sketched him.

But there was also the time that our friend Chris came to pick up Dick for a Sunday morning swim and walked in and asked, “what’s that in the yard by the handicap ramp?” (We have a handicap ramp leading to our doorway.)

I went outside and peered over the edge of the railing to see a muskrat grooming himself on the lawn.

Well I would have seen a muskrat if I had not looked away the moment I saw that triangular, naked tail. (We figured that with all the recent flooding at that time the animal had made its way up through a storm drain and then into the “rural” safety of our yard.)

We all have our Achilles’ Heel. I can treat a gaping wound without a second of upchuck or worry, and in a zombie apocalypse I’m your girl— but naked, triangular tails, not so much.

So I don’t look at rodents as a rule. In pet stores, I walk right by the rats, mice, and whatever else is on offer—I make straight for the birds. (For the record I also don’t look in aquariums that are housing spiders!)

But last fall I was dropping off some papers and fabrics at a friend’s house and they had just acquired a chinchilla. They provided her with a wire “house” that rose up about four feet from its two-foot tall platform. There were various levels within the dwelling where the chinchilla could wander, take a dust bath, and exercise on a wheel. As she moved about her cage I sat on a low, wide window ledge and watched and sketched. I did get to touch her and she was very, very soft. Really, very, very soft.

After a very short sketching session (less than 10 minutes) we were busy with other activities, but I see these sketches as a valuable first step in looking at chinchillas. I have an invitation to come and sketch any time, but most important I’ve started to define for myself what to look for in angles, proportion, and even eye detail.

I haven’t had time to return, and don’t think I’ll get back for sometime still because of some demands with work. But I’m also that much closer to looking at all rodents more closely.

Recently I had to pick something up at the pet store and I walked by the rats and guinea pigs. I looked right at them without hesitation. No worries.

Comments

I Don’t Look at Rodents—Usually

Above: Several quick sketches of Cilla, the Chinchilla, owned by a friend. I was looking at body shape and outlines, and also at the eye. The first quick contour sketch, bottom left, made me think Cilla looked a lot like Master Sifu in "Kung Fu Panda." (Notes on the lefthand page were from a mat-cutting sales demo I attended the night before. I didn't purchase one.) Click on the image to view an enlargement.

I don’t look at rodents—usually.

I know there was the time many winters ago where I walked outside and there was a dead mouse curled in the driveway. I went back inside and got my journal and sketched him.

But there was also the time that our friend Chris came to pick up Dick for a Sunday morning swim and walked in and asked, “what’s that in the yard by the handicap ramp?” (We have a handicap ramp leading to our doorway.)

I went outside and peered over the edge of the railing to see a muskrat grooming himself on the lawn.

Well I would have seen a muskrat if I had not looked away the moment I saw that triangular, naked tail. (We figured that with all the recent flooding at that time the animal had made its way up through a storm drain and then into the “rural” safety of our yard.)

We all have our Achilles’ Heel. I can treat a gaping wound without a second of upchuck or worry, and in a zombie apocalypse I’m your girl— but naked, triangular tails, not so much.

So I don’t look at rodents as a rule. In pet stores, I walk right by the rats, mice, and whatever else is on offer—I make straight for the birds. (For the record I also don’t look in aquariums that are housing spiders!)

But last fall I was dropping off some papers and fabrics at a friend’s house and they had just acquired a chinchilla. They provided her with a wire “house” that rose up about four feet from its two-foot tall platform. There were various levels within the dwelling where the chinchilla could wander, take a dust bath, and exercise on a wheel. As she moved about her cage I sat on a low, wide window ledge and watched and sketched. I did get to touch her and she was very, very soft. Really, very, very soft.

After a very short sketching session (less than 10 minutes) we were busy with other activities, but I see these sketches as a valuable first step in looking at chinchillas. I have an invitation to come and sketch any time, but most important I’ve started to define for myself what to look for in angles, proportion, and even eye detail.

I haven’t had time to return, and don’t think I’ll get back for sometime still because of some demands with work. But I’m also that much closer to looking at all rodents more closely.

Recently I had to pick something up at the pet store and I walked by the rats and guinea pigs. I looked right at them without hesitation. No worries.